Category: Punk/Rock

Categories
Punk/Rock Why We Love

Why We Love: Dream Wife

A truly badass punk rock band by any definition – these three girls are set to take on the screwed up modern world and kick it where it hurts, bitches to the front please for Dream Wife. 

Using their lyrics to quite literally give the finger to stereotype gender roles, sexism and objectification they’re here to save the world with a voice louder and a message more pervasive than the misogynistic old gits who run it.

The group, fronted by Islandic talent Rakel Mjöll and accompanied by effortlessly cool instrumentalists Alice Go on guitar and bassist Bella Podpadec have become known for a popular “bitches-to-the-front” code at their killer shows, where female gig-goers can mosh together without fear of wandering hands or other unwelcome attention.

Defiant words, rocking music and advocates for equality, Dream Wife are the group that we’ve been longing for and they couldn’t have come at a more needed time. About to set off on their 2021 Europe wide tour, they’re taking their message with them and yelling F.U to old ways.

Given that their origins were as a ‘fake girl band’ for a concept art piece, they’ve come a long way- now having evolved into a fully-fledged powerhouse of a group.

Yes, you did read that right, Dream Wife simply started out as a performance project after Podpadec and Go, who had already met during a Battle of the Bands (they just keep getting cooler don’t they?), joined forces with Mjöll at Brighton University and released their inner Spinal Tap- playing characters in a music mockumentary. 

However, it evidently surfaced that these weren’t just personas they were channelling but actually, their true rock star identities rising and ever since the band have been putting out amazing tracks that you’ll definitely be wanting to turn your volume up to 11 for.

The girls bring a clean-cut edge to punk. Storming guitars, strutting basslines and strong elocution in Mjöll’s gritty vocals have a well-polished finish- resulting in an all-round refinement that sets them aside from many bands that are currently opting for grungier post-punk mumbles. Stand out tracks that encapsulate their trade-mark sound include the adrenaline-inducing Sports!, Hey Heartbreaker and Taste; featuring the line ‘I’ve got movement in my blood and it’s pumping up’ which is definitely how you feel whilst listening.

They’re no one-trick pony solely dependent on volume and aggression either, with Mjöll having originally trained in jazz and opera she’s also more than capable of displaying a more melodic side on songs like emotional sophomore album closer After the Rain tackling the tough but equally important issue of abortion or Temporary where accompanied by softer riffs and a dreamy aura they show that they’re capable of just about anything.

Not only do the trio have the coolest collection of names between them but also the coolest attitude to back their pure punk sound. I defy any female to feel anything other than empowered whilst listening to them, with lyrics like ‘serve it, smash it, win it, own it’ delivered with a punch, you’re left feeling riled up in the best possible way; energised and ready revolt. 

Citing the likes of Debbie Harry and Madonna as inspirations you can hear that they were raised on an array of iconic female stars and this combined with their reminders that they’re more than just an object and saying ‘hasta la vista’ to anyone that doesn’t agree means they look set to take on their idols roles; inspiring a new generation of girls both musically and in life.

It’s not just women in awe of Dream Wife though; evident by the fact my fellow writer James was planning an article on the group at the same time as myself. He graciously embraced the ‘bitches-to-the front’ ethos and let me have it but I still wanted to include his take as a male fan.

“Sometimes it’s only when a band like Dream Wife comes around do we realise how much we needed them. This group and others like them such as Pussy Riot and Nasty Cherry are grabbing us by the collar and showing they’re a force to be reckoned with.

Just as we’ve seen throughout history, it’s this unmissable attitude gets sh*t done and I respect anyone talking sense with a voice louder than the Donald Trumps of the world.

These girls have proven time and time again that anything we can do, they can do better. Guitarist Alice Go may even be one of the most talented guitarists of her generation. Notice how I didn’t say most talented female guitarists? It’s time we stopped putting women in a separate category. While that may work for sport, music is about intelligence and these girls have sure shown us that.

What I really hope to see is that Dream Wife inspires a resurgence of all-female punk bands, because without them, the world would be a very bleak place indeed.“

I have every faith that this invigorating band has it in them to do just that and keep the world rocking. It’s time to prepare yourself for the force of Dream Wife and the riot that will inevitably follow.

Get rocking to Dream Wife on Spotify now

Categories
New Wave Punk/Rock Why We Love

Why We Love: La Femme

Some bands are difficult to understand. Not being able to speak much French, I understand just about as many lyrics from the exquisite french band ‘La Femme’ as I understand their mind-boggling, hypnotic and seemingly other-worldly style – but you don’t need to speak the language to find out what a truly amazing band they are, you just need to listen.

La Femme are a group totally unafraid of playing around and creating mesmerising sounds. Completely entrancing at the best of times, they are truly one of the best psych-rock bands out there at the moment. I’ve often found myself sitting on a train listening to one of their songs and totally losing all attachment to reality, like the world around me is melting away between my fingers – usually, I’m listening to this corker of a tune;

Their debut album Psycho Tropical Berlin is something I keep coming back to on a regular. My year doesn’t feel right without listening to it at least once. Putting on their songs feels like falling through deep space, or one of those heist movie scenes where they gear up and put their plan into motion… I thought this edit perfectly describes listening to this particular song, however, TWM does not endorse drug taking of any kind, unless that drug is La Femme.

Everyone loves a good psychedelic punk band, but La Femme are something else. Heavily influenced by bands such as Velvet Underground, guitarist Sacha Got and keyboard player Marlon Magnée formed La Femme in 2010 then released their first two EP’s to high national and international praise.

Since the band’s beginnings in Biarritz in the South of France, nine people from cities across the country now form the band’s lineup today.

Last month, the band released their brand new single ‘Paradigme’, along with a message for their fans; “Paradigms vanish, masks come off. From now on, nothing will be the same anymore.”

The band also released this truly captivating video quite unlike any we’ve seen from them before:

With a bold new image and brand new ideas, La Femme have set out to re-brand themselves for a new era. The announcement of their partnership with IDOL digital distribution and the promise of an upcoming album means we’ll be keeping a close eye on La Femme and are looking forward to our brains being melted once again by this truly remarkable group with a surprise around every corner.

Listen to La Femme on Spotify now.

Categories
Indie/Indie Rock Punk/Rock Why We Love

Why We Love: Courtney Barnett

With albums like IDLES ‘Ultra Mono’ and so many other spectacular artists from the same vain currently dominating the UK charts, it’s safe to say we could be on the very edge of a new era for music and the true revival period for 80’s grunge. If hearing this makes you jump for joy, then the songs of guitarist Courtney Barnett from Melbourn are certainly ‘must-haves’ on your playlists.

After first hitting big on the underground rock scene in 2012 with her self released EP, ‘I’ve Got a Friend Called Emily Ferris’, Courtney Barnett has since grown to become one of the most talked-about rising modern rock stars of today. After two studio albums and a host of incredible singles, Courtney has earnt phenomenal praise and worldwide recognition for her garage rock sound and muddy ’90s style. This is an artist who certainly never disappoints and a woman who truly embodies the spirit of ’90s MTV Nostalgia – talented AF, cool as hell, she might just be the Kurt Cobain of her generation.

Home-made and humorous, not only does Courtney Barnett produce smashing tune after smashing tune, she continues to amaze us with her terrific funny music videos.

Along with her neutral wit and creative humour, Courtney has brought something we love about music back to the world; a feeling on authenticity, high-school DIY band vibes and a persona inspired by her classic rock influences. Commonly pictured with a Fender guitar around her, the attributes of Barnett’s grunge pioneer predecessors Johnny Marr, John Squire and Thurston Moore are not lost on this extraordinary talent.

Her early experience in music as a guitarist in several garage and psych-country bands still shines through in her music today, both in the melodies and production of her songs and through the southern twang in her slumberous vocal style.

Old school and modern at the same time, one of her more recent tunes ‘Nameless, Faceless’ from her 2018 album ‘Tell Me How You Really Feel’, along with the songs animated video, is very much in the spirit of ’90s MTV and also reminds us of Franz Ferdinand’s ‘Take Me Out’ music video from 2004.

Since the release of her last single ‘Everybody Here Hates You’ in 2019, Courtney has been quiet about any new material she may be working on since Woodstock 50 festival had to be cancelled at the start of the year, but we have seen a great cover of Kev Carmondy’s ‘Just for you’ as well as many great new songs emerging from artists signed to her self-founded record label, Milk! Records.

Courtney has been known to collaborate frequently with other artists, this week she appeared in Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy’s creative lockdown music video for his new single ‘Gwendolyn.’

We’re dead excited to hear Courtney Barnett come blasting back onto the scene with new material soon, but for now at least we can rest assured that artists like Courtney exist in the world. We can sleep easy knowing that grunge is not truly dead.

Courtney Barnett is on tour in the UK with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds from April 13th. Get your tickets here.

Listen to Courtney Barnett’s most recent single Everybody Here Hates You on YouTube and Spotify now.

Categories
Punk/Rock Reviews

Review: IDLES – Ultra Mono

Direct, divisive and darkly humorous, if you’re looking for an album that packs all of these qualities as well as a major punch then look no further than Ultra Mono, the third studio album from Bristol rockers IDLES.

Since receiving critical acclaim upon the release of their aptly named debut album ‘Brutalism’ in 2017 the band have consistently stayed true to themselves in speaking the truth- no matter how harsh. Frontman Joe Talbot refuses to be defined by genre and continually denies claims that they fit under the ‘punk’ umbrella despite comparisons to likes of Shame and even Fontaines D.C. a band at the current forefront of the genre. One thing there’s no denying though is that they’ve truly developed their own distinct sound. A belligerent beat creates a mechanical feel that ticks along at the heart of their music; more so on this album than ever before, helping to seamlessly transition between tracks and allow Talbot to fire off his often frenzied but equally thoughtful lyrics.

Blunt political statements are a prominent driving force behind both their music and in recruiting steady support from many however, the same proclamations also result in severance from others who feel they’re too judgemental. They recognise the irony in these opinions though and in no way care that it repels, continuing to speak their mind and confronting any hate in witty lyrics with examples including “there’s nothing brave and nothing useful, you scrawling your aggro shit on the walls of the cubicle” dominating second track ‘Grounds’. There’s no shying away from other charged topics either with passion filled songs on the likes of white privilege, toxic masculinity and feminism; even bringing onboard Savages Jehnny Beth to practice what they preach by featuring some defiant female vocals on ‘Ne Touché Pas Moi’ further driving home their beliefs of equality.

Ultra Mono encapsulates a feeling of doom simmering inside most listeners given the current climate. A sense of terror looms throughout but unlike many that internalise this, they break through the surface to address the sense of urgency and need for action by exploding in exciting anger with raging riffs and aggressive vocals. This, combined with the military coherence created by their rhythm section leaves you steadily riled up throughout the record, resulting in a sense of unity against the common enemy, building the “strength in numbers” referenced again in Grounds. There’s plenty more to the record than anger though; from the surprisingly tender ‘A Hymn’- a melancholic vessel for channeling their emotions and delivering opinions in a softer way, to the comically propelled Model Village, with a sinister undertone that that feels so familiar you can’t help but laugh. All tracks combined, you’re left submerged in an oppressive atmosphere, ready and raring to escape the constraints of the everyday and confront whatever darkness is on the horizon.

The main concern on the run-up to this third release was that the band wouldn’t channel the boldness they exude in their songs when it comes to exploring new grounds (no pun intended). To a certain point, this worry has been addressed as the band worked with producer Kenny Beats, infusing a touch of his hip hop background right into the record’s veins and also collaborated with jazz-pop pianist Jamie Cullum on ‘Kill Them With Kindness’ for a further twist. Despite this, they don’t venture too far from previous material but it’s clear to see that they’ve sustained a real direction and are more focused on upholding their own belief in what they should be, delivering something for existing fans rather than pleasing everyone and converting anyone that opposes.

As a whole, Ultra Mono is a strong follow up to their previous Mercury Prize nominated album ‘Joy as an Act of Resistance’ that couldn’t have come at a more apt time. The driving feeling evoked in their tunes looks set to continue, helping to thrust them forward and prove that when it comes to speaking up about what they believe in, Idles wont be staying idle.

Listen to Ultra Mono on Spotify now.

Categories
Jazz/Blues New Wave Pop/Indie Pop Punk/Rock Why We Love

Why We Love: The Avalanches

It’s rare to find a band who you can say do things truly differently, who create new tracks from chopped up old ones and who utilise comedy throughout their music, but what’s even rarer is finding a band who do that all as superb as The Avalanches – a band who come out with great tune after great tune, even some that are purely hysterical.

The Avalanches have been releasing music since the early 2000s, and their music videos online have drawn in millions of views for their sheer class and creativity.

The Australian electronic music group first became known for their highly creative use of sampling (using snippets of other records), something which was popularised in 80’s hip-hop music.

In recent years, sampling has perhaps been given a bad rep, mainly due to artists blatantly ripping off other songs and claiming it was ‘sampled’ (*cough* Drake *cough* Rizzle Kicks).

Avalanches, on the other hand, have truly brought this type of music back to what it was supposed to be, a band who truly use their brains to create new original songs out of the bits and bobs of other records.

Their debut album Since I Left You is considered by the wider music industry to be one of the best albums of the early 2000s – Robbie Chater, one of the founding members of the band, estimated in an interview with Sound On Sound magazine that the entire album contained around 3,500 samples, all of which were ripped from vinyl records using equipment at Sing Sing Studios in Melbourne.

The Avalanches are truly a band that offers something for everyone. Each of their songs seems almost worlds apart from the next, but each still retains that same playfulness we’ve come to love.

Their ever-changing lineup of multi-instrumentalists has changed frequently throughout the years and ensures their music never sounds the same.

Since the rise of YouTube, their viral music videos have seemed to play a more major role in people finding their music. Their mind-boggling video for ‘Frontier Psychiatrist,’ the band’s second-ever release, was the video that first caught my attention. Robbie Chater’s background as a film student at the time of the band’s formation may have been one of the biggest contributing factors to the creation of their now-famous videos. Since then, the band have won many film awards for their humorous, creative and at times positively bewildering concepts.

We’ve seen many bands ‘get big quick’ by releasing music videos which go viral. Today, for a lot of bands, this seems to be an attractive way to getting yourself noticed (if your video concept is good enough that is). Bands like PSY and OKGO are a prime example of artists whose music you probably wouldn’t have heard if it weren’t for their online presence.

Although The Avalanches videos are just as brilliant, they’ve proven that unlike other bands, people come for the videos but stay for the music.

Since the release of their second album in 2016, which followed a long hiatus since the band’s debut in 2001, we’ve seen them to be incredibly active this year; releasing single after single and collaborating with various artists including Denzel Curry.

The Avalanches have often relied on playing with the sounds of other artists, but this is the first time we’ve seen them extensively collaborate with established acts.

We’re very excited to see what lies in wait for this awesome band and hope that their next album lives up to their previous 18-22 track LP’s. The Avalanches music is quite simply a treat, from their lyrics to their videos, their creative, playful personas shine through in almost every aspect of the band, and we’re glad to have them back!

Categories
Punk/Rock Why We Love

Why We Love: Amyl and The Sniffers

Australian pub-punk band Amyl and The Sniffers have quickly become one of the most talked-about underground bands of the year. When I first saw their electric yet unorthodox performance style on Jools Holland, which reminded me of watching an Iggy Pop performance, I had no idea what to make of this crazy looking bunch thrashing about in front of the BBC’s apparently paralytic studio audience. Something about this group just intrigued me from the get-go… maybe it was the hairstyles, but possibly also the singer Amy’s boots made completely out of gaffa tape wrapped around her ankles. I just had to know more about them, and after adding the song I had heard to my playlist, I then ended up listening to every one of their releases non-stop for that entire week.

Packed with fantastic punk attitudes, this band have quickly become a favourite, a group I’ve been telling everyone about, and those who hear them become just as hooked as I first did. The frontwoman of the band, Amy Taylor, has compared their music to the street drug Amyl after which the band takes their name; “In Australia we call poppers Amyl. So you sniff it, it lasts for 30 seconds and then you have a headache – and that’s what we’re like!” Frontwoman Amy is certainly one of the coolest rocking people on the planet today, a true queen of the modern punk world who I know has inspired many young women in London and across the world with her highly energetic, rebellious and empowering image.

The band have been touring Australia and America, primarily playing cult and punk festivals across the world, with appearances also at festivals throughout Europe this year. They formed in Melbourne, Australia, all close friends, writing and releasing their first EP, Giddy Up, in just 12 hours.

THIS is the true revival of punk, and nobody does it better today than Amyl and The Sniffers.

I leave you with their awesome lockdown cover of Peaches posted on their Instagram a few months back. This is one extraordinary band you’ll simply fall in love with, and who are worth every penny to see them at one of their fantastic, beer-soaked, sweat-drenched gigs. I can’t wait to see these guys back on stage where their flair truly comes alive.

Categories
Punk/Rock Why We Love

Why we love: Fontaines D.C.

It would be a bold statement to compare any band to music legends such as The Jesus and Mary Chain, Sonic Youth or The Cure, but let me say this – I think Fontaines D.C. are one of the most exciting bands to form in a long time.

In 2017, while studying music in Dublin, Carlos O’Connell, Conor Curley, Conor Deegan, Grian Chatten, and Tom Coll quickly bonded over a love of poetry and together, soon began turning that common interest into music.

After they started gigging as simply ‘Fontaines’, they quickly learnt of another band with that name and so added the D.C (Dublin City).

The band signed to Partisan Records and their debut album Dogrel was released in April 2019 to much critical acclaim, earning them a nomination for a Mercury Prize, a Choice Music Prize and many more titles rarely held by such a young band.

Their second studio album, A Hero’s Death, was just released in July 2020 to just as much praise from fans.

I love a band who sing in their own accents, and their roots and common interest in poetry which brought the boys together certainly sets this band apart from the rest for their intelligent lyrics – something which seems to be underestimated today but reminds me strongly of the origins of Joy Division and Ian Curtis’ attitudes to love and loss in ‘70s working-class Manchester. I recently took a trip to Dublin and stayed not far from where singer Grian Chatten had grown up. The similarities I recognised between Dublin and Manchester in terms of the people’s music culture and pride for their city became very clear to see – evidently, this dynamic has produced many great bands in both these areas.

Being stuck inside during the recent pandemic has been difficult for a lot of bands, and cancelling the tour of their new album was never going to be easy. But it seems that the band have been busier than ever, releasing a fantastic cover of Darklands, directing their own music video for their recent release and most interesting of all, creating Spotify playlists comprised of their many influences which I’ve not been able to stop listening to.

With a wide taste in music, bringing together the best of rock, punk, indie and more, it’s easy to see where the inspiration for their own great songs have come from, and the genius of bands from before their time is certainly reflected in their music today.

These boys flying the flag for Dublin have seemingly captured the attention of an audience not only their own age, but the generation that came before them too – the ones who grew up seeing those great bands, and who are now reliving their 20’s. It’s the first time in a long time I’ve seen gigs where my own friends, the ‘younger’ generation are standing alongside people their parents’ age. That’s exactly what truly good music should do.

It’s incredibly refreshing to see a band drawing so heavily on the influence of much older bands, but doing so in their own very unique way. I’d go so far as to say that If these boys had been around in the ’90s, they might now have the same legendary status as some of the bands they look up to, and there’s absolutely no reason why they couldn’t still put themselves up there.

I’ve already seen how far these guys have come over the last year since I first heard them on the radio, and I’m excited to see where they go next. In a lot of ways, it feels like watching one of my favourite 80’s rock bands form before my very eyes.

The next time you see them playing near you, I strongly advise you to get out there, there are not many people I can safely say will go down in music history, but Fontaines D.C. will be one you’ll be telling your grandkids about.

Their new album ‘A Hero’s Death’ is available now.